Judge OKs deal that ends government oversight of Teamsters

NEW YORK (AP) — A judge in New York has approved an agreement between the Teamsters union and the Department of Justice that ends the government's 25-year anti-corruption oversight of the 1.4 million-member union.

The union says an agreement announced in January was approved Tuesday by U.S. District Chief Judge Loretta Preska.

The agreement ends a 1989 consent decree in which the labor union agreed to federal oversight and replaces it with an order phasing out the government's involvement in the union over a five-year transition period.

Union president James Hoffa says the union can "proudly declare that corrupt elements have been driven from the Teamsters and that government oversight can come to an end."

Hoffa is the son of former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, who has been missing since 1975.